Yet Bush and his officials never said this. And after the multiple disasters of the Iraq war began to present themselves with great clarity, the Bush officials were questioned about their pre-war intel. Yet they could say, strictly speaking, one thing they never claimed was Saddam was behind 9/11.

Condoleezza Rice had said something about the attacks originating in the same region or area as Iraq. There was all sorts of insinuation that Saddam might have been involved. And surely the Bush team never put an ounce of effort into disabusing the American people of the completely false notion that Saddam was behind 9/11. The vast majority of Americans believed it--indeed, at times, more Americans thought Saddam was behind the attacks than believed the Iraq War was just!--yet it was not only completely untrue, but not directly rooted in any explicit assertion given by the administration. Various pro-war commentators had said it, but Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell--none of them ever did.

Indeed, talking with “respectable” liberals--the type who listen to NPR and watch Jon Stewart--I find repeatedly that even folks who don’t want to go to war assume that every reasonable American knows that Iran is on the brink of having nukes, if the regime doesn’t already have them.

What’s bizarre about this, other than the fact that there is no credible evidence that Iran has nuclear weapons, is that no one in a position of official authority is claiming it either! Every report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, even when framed in a way to make Iran seem ominous, confirms the “non-diversion” of nuclear materials to weaponization purposes. The CIA and intelligence community have consistently stood by the National Intelligence Estimate findings that Iran has not sought a nuclear weapon since 2003 (and Iran doing so back then is only suspected based on very scant evidence produced by the Israeli government).

Even if Iran wanted to make nuclear weapons, it would probably take three or more years. Iran is reportedly attempting to enrich its uranium to 19.75% LEU. Nuclear weapons require 95%--and there is no evidence that Iran has the means to do this. It is even more dubious to believe a nuclear-armed Iran would be some sort of unprecedented threat for the United States, but that’s neither here nor there.

So what’s the deal? The Obama administration (and the Bush administration, and the UN) have all had the same official position: Iran doesn’t have nukes, and the Iranians probably aren’t looking to get them. Yet seven out of ten Americans think Iran already has them. Meanwhile, every Republican presidential candidate except Ron Paul warns about the unparalleled threat of a nuclear Iran, and the Obama White House punishes the country with tighter sanctions and ever more threats.

Indeed, Obama has thrived on the insinuation that Iran has nukes. When he acted tough back in 2009 because Iran had been caught red-handed with its fledgling nuclear facility at Qom--a civilian nuclear facility that Iran readily alerted the international community to, consistent with its continuing adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is a signatory--he did so against a backdrop of insinuation that of course everyone knows Iran wants nuclear weapons. He did this even though all that existed at Qom, according to an IAEA official, was a “hole in a mountain.” Why didn’t the president remind the public instead that there is little to worry about, since the entire Defense Department and intelligence community confirm that Iran has no nuclear weapons program?

If a war begins with Iran, it will largely be on the basis of propaganda believed by the public, propaganda that the government has never officially articulated. In the past, the U.S. thrived on outright lies for war: the Gulf of Tokin Incident, Kuwaiti babies being ripped from incubators, and so forth. There has long been a fair share of unsubstantiated allegations involved behind major U.S. wars--the USS Maine being sunk by the Spanish, the Zimmerman Telegram posing an actual threat to the United States, the Serbians committing genocide of ethnic Albanians, killing many tens of thousands of civilians in the late 1990s, and so on.

Yet today lies and unproven allegations are not enough. The U.S. warfare state appears to thrive on insinuation in its war propaganda. The U.S. war machine’s top brass never outright declare the most provocative claims about U.S. enemies. That way, when the war goes south and people begin accusing the political class of misleading them, the empire’s defenders can easily say (accurately in word if not in spirit): “Bush never claimed Saddam was behind 9/11! Obama never claimed Iran had nuclear weapons!”

But don’t think for a moment that our rulers aren’t glad the American people believe what they do. It makes wars so much easier to wage when the public buys into all sorts of nonsense. The plausible deniability that insinuated propaganda gives the ruling class is just icing on the cake.

This claim ,that Iran wants nuclear, is just another way of saying
that, that Americas,United Nations controlled army, wants destroy another
country that attempts to be indepedent of the will of the " New World Order "
bankers and corporations. America must wake up to the fact that, we the
citizens of the state Republics will not allow you; the Federal Government,
( that we created ) to take our offspring/children to fight another war for the
true terrorize. We must not be stupid again. Who gave America the right
to dictate policy to the world ? Americans are paying taxes to support wars
around the world. Its ashame that we seem to have money for guns and
bombs,ships and missiles and planes and bullets. But some schools in the
towns and the cities of America can't afford to pay teachers salary and buy
books and other supplies that students need. States are going bankrupt,but
we always have money for war. Oopes, I almost forgot . We also always
money for new prisons. And this country/coporation is building more.
Isreal, and the European Zionist Bankers want another war. So they
tell there puppets, in the UN, to start up the American war machine again,and
to attact on our orders. And of course, the dumb afraid Americans will ap-
prove, by there silence yet another war. Benjamim Frankin once said, those
who are willing to give up there freedoms for security, deserve neither.
The people of the world don't want American land or to destroy Americans
so-called freedom ( as George Bush once stated ) . They just want to be
left alone. Do not go to their countries telling whats best for them, and how
they should live,and what kind of government thay should have. In the eyes
of the world, America has become the new Nazi Germany. I hope that we
stay out of Iran and let them handle their national affairs the want to. The
UN, NWO must be disbanded. Then the world can have peace again.

Thank you for a thought provoking article. It seems as if the American public has been conditioned to respond to insinuations by the US government and state-aligned media by jumping to conclusions and even extrapolating wildly beyond what has been insinuated. Thus the government and media don't even have to lie anymore; just utter dark hints and the masses will do the rest.

This is a good example of why critical thinking skills, a healthy skepticism, and an insistence on plain speaking is important.

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